September 15th, 2009
Today’s sample proposal takes us to Oakland.
The project had to strike a delicate balance. We needed to document both:
- my client’s street credibility (since we proposed outreach to sex workers and injecting drug users, groups that are extremely skittish about police and other officials), and
- my client’s medical chops (since the project included blood draws and STD HIV testing)
My client’s staff included former sex workers and injecting drug users, who were already doing AIDS HIV awareness outreach in the target neighborhood. They brought back first hand reports from the field, which I sprinkled throughout the proposal. That took care of issue 1.
To tackle issue 2, I made sure the budget included ample time and detailed job description for a phlebotomist. And we partnered with a local hospital with a lot of experience in AIDS HIV prevention and treatment. The hospital provided a letter that documented cash and in-kind support. I put that in bold to stress that, in general, support letters are a dime a dozen. But one that pledges material support…that’s gold. And grant proposal reviewers sit up and take notice.
This federal proposal was awarded $150,000 for each of three years for a total of $450,000. The granting agency was the Office of Minority Health. So, to win the grant, it was essential to document the number of minorities not only in the target population but also on the client’s board of directors and staff.
One last lesson from today’s sample proposal: Initially, we weren’t funded. We did get a glowing letter praising the project, with an apology to say they’d run out of funds. But we kept in contact with the funder. When they got an additional appropriation a few months later, we were at the head of the line.
Moral: Don’t give up, especially if you’ve gotten some positive feedback. A relationship with a funder is like any relationship. It’s based on keeping in touch. So don’t be shy about picking up the phone and calling a program officer!
Summary of the grant proposal: The 3-year project uses street level outreach to bring information about HIV and STD risk reduction to minority (emphasizing African-American) sex workers and injecting drug users (IDUs). The project also provides access to treatment at local medical/recovery facilities. Names of individuals and grantees have been altered to protect privacy. The narrative section of the proposal is attached. (Assurances, certifications, budgetary pages, and appendices have been omitted. For this reason, the attached materials are paginated from 19 to 51.)
If you have any questions about the proposal, just post a comment below. (No need to subscribe to the blog.)
See the FULL SAMPLE GRANT PROPOSAL HERE.
Tags: aids, california grants, cash match, government grants, hiv, letter of support, minority grants, sample grant, sample proposal
Posted in sample proposal | 6 Comments »
August 27th, 2009
OK, so I’m not actually a doctor. Fact is, you can’t get a degree in grant writing. Or if you can, it’s from some diploma mill and not worth the fake sheepskin it’s printed on. Two things count in grant writing: Experience and success. Proposals I’ve developed have brought in over $25 million. Some of them have been multi-million dollar grants, but plenty have been small grants between $2,500 and $50,000, probably the range you’re targeting, if you’re just beginning to write grants. That’s how I started out 20 years ago. For the first several years of my career, I worked as a grant writer and project developer within organizations. For the past dozen years, I’ve managed my own company, choosing clients who are a good fit with my experience and interests.
In these pages I’ll refer to a grant writer’s client, since I’m typically in a contractual relationship. Even if you work as an employee, it’s still useful to think of other parts of the organization (the board of directors, your direct supervisor, or even yourself wearing a different hat) as your clients. Why do I think this is helpful? I want repeat customers; therefore, I want happy customers. I want to build long-term relationships. Over the years, I’ve learned to resist the impulse to include elements in a proposal that I know will score points with reviewers, but will be impossible for my client to implement. Creating fantasy proposals may get money in the short run, but will corrode your relationships in the long run.
An admission: I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I know, I know. The books on interviewing technique tell you to mention this as a shortcoming when you’re asked to list your strengths and weaknesses. A bit precious. And some bosses and clients may actually believe obsessive perfectionism to be a good thing. My experience: It undermines effectiveness. Profoundly. With Voltaire, I’ve come to believe The perfect is the enemy of the good. There’s more on this topic in my preface to the Breast Cancer Awareness sample grant proposal.
The flip side of perfectionism is procrastination. Those of you who suffer the malady will likely understand that comment. Still, I will ponder the underlying psychology more in a future post. An anti-procrastination tool-kit is essential for the effective grant writer.
Tags: building client relationships, personal background, procrastination
Posted in psychology of grant writing | No Comments »
August 2nd, 2009
So you’ve just been thrown into the deep end…maybe you’re staff who’s just had grant writing added to your job description. Or maybe you’re a board member who’s volunteered to try to get funding for a new program.
Welcome to the world of grant writing. It can be overwhelming at first, trying to sort through the vegetable soup. (What’s the difference between an RFP and an RFQ?) As the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy so helpfully advises:
DON’T PANIC!
Consider me a friendly advisor.
First let me introduce myself…
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